Thursday, January 20, 2005

North Carolina Mental Health Commission Moves to Fix Group Home Staffing Rules   WTVD news story - "State mental health officials have taken their first step toward correcting a mistake that allowed group home operators to collect state payments for workers they didn't employ. The problem was highlighted in a series of stories this week in The Charlotte Observer. The mistake caused the state to pay group homes under a model that assumes there at least two workers for every three children, while state rules require only one worker for every four children. State officials have acknowledged that they changed the reimbursement model without ever changing the rules that governed the ratio of workers to children. They have said the state and Medicaid overpaid group homes by tens of millions of dollars during the past three budget years."